THE CONTINUING CONFLICT BETWEEN THE TOPEKA, KANSAS, Fire Chief and the firefighters grew this week when it was announced that Chief Howard Giles hired someone from outside the department for the #2 position.

Chief Giles

Jeff Davis, who is currently the public safety director for Fort Scott and a former assistant fire chief for the Great Bend FD.  He is scheduled to assume his duties in Topeka in the beginning of October.

Kent Dederick, the president of the Firefighters Local 83 issued a public statement:

 ”I believe the hiring from outside the department is a terrible morale buster — everybody aspires to move up the ranks.  I believe this is to simply get somebody into the position that he can have full control of.  If someone is hired from outside, (Giles) would have full influence over him. They have no clue as to what this department is about. They’ll only understand what he tells them.”

The Topeka Capital-Journal has the full STORY.
Topeka Fire Dept. WEBSITE.
Local 83 WEBSITE.

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